Bash is default, yet still changes when I run "bash: in terminal?

Question

When I open the terminal, the prompt is as follows:

<computer-name>:~ <username>$

When I run bash in the Mac terminal, it changes my prompt to the following of course:

bash-3.2$

However, this surprises me, because my shell is already bash: I know this because when I run the following echo command it yields bash:

echo $SHELL 
/bin/bash

So, why does the prompt change, when bash is already my default? Is there something I'm misunderstanding here? Thank you.

What is returned by echo $PS1 before and after running bash ? — Eugeniu Rosca
– Eugeniu Rosca, Commented Jun 17, 2015 at 18:02
/bin/bash is version 3.2 in Mac OS X; is your terminal configured to run a different bash that's not in your path on startup? — chepner
– chepner, Commented Jun 17, 2015 at 18:07
Try bash -l; that will run it as a login shell, and it should give you your normal prompt. — Keith Thompson
– Keith Thompson, Commented Jun 17, 2015 at 18:19
So, echo $PS1 prints \h:W \u\$ when using <computer-name>:~ <username>$, and it prints \s-\v\$ when using bash. What, if anything, does this tell us? Thanks. — makansij
– makansij, Commented Jun 18, 2015 at 6:22

Michał Šrajer · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-17 18:11:29Z

2

Prompt is defined by PS1 variable. See

echo $PS1

in both cases. Most likely when you login, some of start scripts change the value of PS1. Inspect files:

~/.bash_profile
~/.bash_login
~/.bashrc
~/.profile
/etc/profile
/etc/bash.bashrc

For more information how bash starts, see INVOCATION section in man bash and for PS1 and others prompt related variables see PARAMETERS section.

edited Jun 17, 2015 at 18:11

answered Jun 17, 2015 at 18:02

Michał Šrajer

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Vadim A. Misbakh-Soloviov · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-17 18:11:24Z

0

Your PROMPT (aka PS1) changes because when you just open terminal, it, probably, run bash either: 1) as login shell (in that case bash, probably, has special settings for login shell mode (look at ~/.bash_profile or /etc/profile (although, /etc/profile should load even for non-login shells)));

2) with TERM value, different, that you have in manually called (actually, I doubt it);

3) with it's own custom bashrc or something like that;

Anyway, you can edit ~/.bashrc (for example, copy PS1 there from ~/.bash_login and get what you want)

answered Jun 17, 2015 at 18:11

Vadim A. Misbakh-Soloviov

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